60F in Dec! Time for a long-ish ride

Today's ride, taking advantage of freakishly warm and sunny 60F weather, is 17 miles. At my speed this is the longest I can currently manage to do during lunch before co-workers will start to wonder where I amn I'll be on two local MUPs for almost half the ride, since no one uses them this time of year (weather nonwithstanding, I expect) and they will be empty. Normally I avoid them due to the plagues of dog walkers and inline skaters.

Alas, the stone dust paving on the 2nd MUP defeated me - my road slicks are no match for 3" deep mud. I ended up doing just 13.3 miles, although a nasty headwind added a nice challenge at the very end.

At mile 10.6, I spotted a roadie about 300 yards ahead. Channelling my inner Mr. Beanz, I sped up and closed the gap to about 50 yards when he turned left off the road a mile further down the road. Hey, in my head I won that race even though I'm pretty sure he never saw me. And that's all that really matters, right?

Hmmm... we had 40s and sunny on Saturday so I took the trike out for 7 miles. Felt good, but needed fewer clothes. First outdoor ride in 1.5 months or so. I am planning on riding the BRR ride in February here though. Fun in February here in Iowa